Monthly Archives: June 2022

The crypto winter is here. Its a trying time as prices grind down, but its the best moment to build and learn. For some Bitcoiners, the bear market is a time to plant treesor create memes. For those with kids, its a welcome recess used to broaden the minds of Bitcoin (BTC) minors.

Cointelegraph spoke to the creators of popular Bitcoin-related games and educational tools to understand why teaching kids about sound money is critical, and some of the best ways of doing so.

SHAmory, a portmanteau of SHA-256 (the cryptographic function that hashes inputs in Bitcoin) and memory, is among the best-selling Bitcoin games. Targeted at kids aged four and over, creator Scott Sibley shared that he had his toddler in mind for both the creation of the game and book.

Sibley and his wife also thought up Goodnight Bitcoin,part of a burgeoning bookshelf of Bitcoin-related books. A passionate educator, Sibley told Cointelegraph that breaking the money taboo and educating kids about finance is critical:

Sibley suggested that kids seeing, interacting with and recognizing something as simple as the Bitcoin logo or even playing our game and then asking how Bitcoin mining works, is key for long-term adoption. Plus, the Gen-Z the Zoomer generation has a headstart understanding intangible digital products: Transacting in Bitcoin is going to be no different than buying a new skin or level in a video game they are currently playing.

Will Reeves, co-founder of Fold App a Bitcoin rewards debit card co-founded the Bitcoin gameBitopoly. Reeves told Cointelegraph that the first version of Bitopoly emerged from a conversation around a dinner table in which we were attempting to teach friends and family members about Bitcoin. He said:

Much like Sibley, Reeves explained that the best thing for Bitcoin adoption is teaching children, especially as they have no preconceived notions.

Kids do not approach Bitcoin with a lifetime of preconceived notions, thus they are able to understand it faster and with less pushback against their own bias, he said.

In comments that may ring true for adult readers, Reeves said that Bitcoin is a hard process of unlearning their previously held thoughts and understandings about what money is.

MTC, the founder of Sats Ledger, told Cointelegraph, I wanted to share Robert Breedlove and other Bitcoiners, with his young family. As a Bitcoin influencer and freedom maximalist, he knows that realistically, no five-year-old would sit through a one-hour Breedlove podcast that waxes lyrical about sound money, libertarian first principles and the evolution of the tax system.

MTC reflected on his own childhood, during which he really liked to save. He remembered the savings books that he would diligently fill out, watching his wealth grow. Combine that with the fact that kids dont like being cheated out of things, and mine is one of the first concepts that a kid understands, and Sats Ledger was born.

MTC said Sats Ledger is a fun, physical savings book for kids to log their Satoshi savings, money that nobody can take from them.

With Sats Ledger, kids get to grips with Bitcoin and money learning how to HODL using a low-time preference. MTC told Cointelegraph, If you can encourage kids to see their savings growing then it puts them on the path to understanding sound money and Bitcoin.

Another childhood saver, Pigtoshi Nakamoto, hatched a Bitcoin twist on the premier childhood saving device the piggy bank. The BitPiggy works with OpenDime, a Bitcoin USB stick that allows people to spend Bitcoin-like dollar bills, to teach kids how to save some or all of their money in Bitcoin.

Pigtoshi told Cointelegraph, I figured it out early that if I saved early in life then things would get easier later in life. Especially when youre young. Its when youre young, thats when you can get ahead. They have since partnered with Sibley from SHAmory, so more toys and games could be on the horizon.

In the United Kingdom, Bitcoiner Coach Carbon has taken the beautiful game of soccer and combined it with Satoshi Nakamotos invention. A life and health coach and lifelong soccer fan Coach Carbon founded Bitcoin Ballers academy, where kids work to combine proof-of-work, personal responsibility and fighting the FUD in a footballing journey, he told Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin Ballers soccer training exercises include 51% attack; a training game called getting off zero and difficulty adjustments within certain training exercises where defenders are added or the pitch size is boxed in. For Coach Carbon, its not just about promoting Bitcoin:

Fundamentally, given that the Bitcoin network is barely a teenager just two countries out of a possible 195 have formally adopted Bitcoin and global adoption rates sit at less than 1%, hyper-Bitcoinization (when Bitcoin becomes the global store of value), is a distant prospect. As the educators explained, exposure to Bitcoin from a young age is another small step on that path.

Related:Is education the key to curbing the rise of scammy, high-APY projects?

Moreover, an unexpected upshot to educating children about sound money is the knock-on effect it has on parents. Reeves concluded that teaching children about Bitcoin is one of the most efficient strategies for accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin.

Whereas for Sibley, games, books, and educational tools are a stealth way of orange-pilling people, notably the parents.

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From games to piggy banks: Educating the Bitcoin minors of the future - Cointelegraph

The chief investment officer of global fixed income at Blackrock, the worlds largest asset manager, says bitcoin and crypto are durable assets. I think theres a healthy recalibration going on, he said, noting that if you look two to three years hence, they will be higher than today.

Rick Rieder, chief investment officer (CIO) of global fixed income at Blackrock, shared his view on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. Blackrock is the worlds largest asset manager with about $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM).

Rieder was asked how the crypto market is going to react as the Federal Reserve begins tightening aggressively. The Fed hiked its benchmark rate by 75 basis points this week the largest increase since 1994.

The CIO explained: I think people underestimate. When you leave rates at such low levels for such an extensive period of time when you keep policy too easy, the leverage builds in the system slash how do I capture return quickly and you are seeing a lot of the leverage that was built up around crypto come unglued pretty darn quickly.

However, he emphasized:

I still think bitcoin and crypto are durable assets. Its a durable business, but there was so much excess built around it.

Rieder described: Its not terribly dissimilar from the internet bubble if you go back to the 99 and 2000, was the internet a bad idea? No, it wasnt a bad idea. But you created so much excess around it and you just have to de-gear that dynamic, and I think we are seeing that today. He noted: Markets go down five times faster than they go up Thats why you were seeing this incredible unwind.

While reiterating that he still thinks bitcoin and crypto are durable assets that are going to go on, the Blackrock executive opined:

I think theres a healthy recalibration going on. Its a question of how much that recalibration is going to go.

When asked about the prices of major cryptocurrencies, he admitted that for crypto: Its pretty hard when there is no true intrinsic value. So, what is it worth? Its worth what the next person will pay.

He continued: My sense is, in all these situations, you overshoot, and my guess is you have probably got some downside to go from here. But its hard to say what fair value is. The Blackrock chief investment officer further shared:

My sense is like a lot of assets, if you look two to three years hence, they will be higher than today.

But it could overshoot on the downside. This is hard to figure out, just like gold, because I cant figure out my free cash flow multiple and what my security is underneath it, he concluded.

Rieder has made some pro-bitcoin comments in the past. In November 2020, he said cryptocurrency is here to stay, noting that bitcoin could replace gold. He also said BTC is so much more functional than passing a bar of gold around. In September last year, he revealed that he owns a small piece of bitcoin, emphasizing: I like assets that are volatile that have upside convexity. I could see bitcoin go up significantly.

What do you think about the comments by Blackrocks chief investment officer? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Blackrock's CIO: Bitcoin and Crypto Are Durable Assets Prices Will Move Higher Markets and Prices Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

What is BOLT 12? Well, it is a lot of different features and moving pieces put together to accomplish multiple different things static QR codes, modular invoices, privacy for the person receiving the payment.

But what is the whole package? It's a way to have a single QR code, an "offer," allow you to grab invoices from a node in a privacy preserving way, while also allowing for things like requesting that a remote node pay your invoice.

Now, anyone familiar with LNURL should already be thinking, This sounds a lot like LNURL. But for those of you who don't know what LNURL is or how it works, here's a quick breakdown.

LNURL is a stack of simple protocols for coordinating information needed to make payments over the Lightning Network using HTTP. The full list of LNURL protocol pieces can be found here, but I'm just going to go into a few core uses that overlap with BOLT 12.

Three core pieces of the LNURL protocol are an authentication scheme, where a public key can be used to log in to a service, an invoice request scheme where a wallet can ping a server through a static QR code and retrieve an invoice, and a withdraw request scheme where a wallet can ping a server and request that the server pays an invoice provided by the wallet. Lightning invoices are much longer than on-chain Bitcoin addresses, the payment itself is already an interactive process requiring both parties to be online, so coordinating payment details interactively over a network connection makes sense.

The authentication protocol is effectively just the server providing a randomly generated number which the users wallet signs with a newly generated key. After the signed random value is received by the server, it saves the associated key to be used in future logins.

The invoice request functionality is a way to provide information to a user about a payment they wish to make in a format that is not an invoice. This provides a description of the payment, the minimum and maximum amount the service expects to be paid, and a URL for the wallet from which to request an actual invoice. From here, the wallet displays this information to the user, allowing them to set a final amount and request an invoice. After sending the invoice request and receiving one back from the server, the wallet verifies that the amounts match what the user set and pays the invoice.

The withdrawal request works by pinging the service, and receiving in response a description, a URL to send an invoice to, a random string (or deterministic to tie to an account or user), and a minimum amount and maximum amount that can be withdrawn. After filling in the appropriate value, the wallet returns an invoice to the server, and if it is valid and within the amount parameters, the service pays the invoice. The LNURL authenticate protocol can be used in addition to this to ensure that only the intended user can successfully withdraw using the LNURL link.

LNURL has smoothed over and improved much of the UX experience around using the Lightning Network, but it requires the use of a web server in order to be utilized. All of the requests and responses are handled through HTTP, and additional infrastructure beyond the Lightning node itself is required to handle these streamlined ways of coordinating and making payments. This is a perfectly reasonable requirement for any online service provider or merchant, who is realistically going to need a web server anyway to provide their service or products online. However, for a non-technical end user at home who simply wants such a streamlined experience, a street vendor, a physical shop or other users who do not already require the use of a web server, this can be a burdensome and potentially risky requirement.

BOLT 12 offers an attempt to achieve some of the core functionality that LNURL provides without requiring the use of a web server. An offer encodes the data necessary to reach a node to request an invoice to make a payment, either a node_id, or a blinded path (the last few hops in an onion route, pre-computed and encrypted) to that node using onion messages. It also can encode a minimum amount for a payment, the currency being paid in, an expiry time and minimum/maximum quantity numbers (for purchasing multiple items).

This is all of the information necessary to fetch an actual invoice from the node that issued the offer. Someone who wants to pay an invoice does so over onion messages, one of the core features of BOLT 12. It allows nodes to make a direct, end-to-end-encrypted connection between each other that does not involve a Lightning channel. Just like Lightning payments, these can be used to onion route messages. After obtaining an offer, a payer will use the information encoded in it to send an invoice_request message. The creator of the offer will then respond back with an actual invoice.

There is also support for generating unique per user offers that allow the receiver to request a payment from the creator of the offer, similar to LNURL's withdrawal request feature. BOLT 12 invoices commit to a unique payer key this can be used in the case of issuing refunds to prove you are the person who actually paid the invoice. This can also be used in combination with the withdrawal offer to guarantee that only the correct person can succeed in getting an invoice paid by the creator, as opposed to whoever is able to get a copy of the offer.

These two uses of offers effectively fulfill the same functionality as the invoice and withdrawal requests of LNURL, without the need to run a web server.

LNURL and BOLT 12 both accomplish the same general functionality, so what is really the difference between them? What is the need for BOLT 12 if LNURL already exists? The key distinction is the web server. A web server requires running more infrastructure, a domain name, a TLS certificate and the expertise to manage these things.

While this is not an issue even worth mentioning for most businesses and services, as these things are needed to operate any online business in the first place, this is a big issue for your typical non-technical end user. It is not a reasonable expectation for a user to maintain extra infrastructure bolted on top of their Lightning node in order to have access to a streamlined and simple user experience. There is also the question of the centralization of DNS; a domain is not something that can ever be truly controlled by the owner.

These issues aside, both can co-exist. LNURL works just fine, and is already very widely adopted in the Lightning ecosystem, it is just not a realistic solution for users other than businesses or services. BOLT 12 as it is adopted can fill that gap, and provide the same streamlined user experience for end users at home who are not businesses.

Both solutions accomplish roughly the same thing for two different classes of users, and that is OK.

This is a guest post by Shinobi. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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BOLT 12 And LNURL: What Is The Future For Bitcoins Lightning Network? - Bitcoin Magazine

During the last week, while crypto markets got hammered, digital currency-centric over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks were swamped with orders. The cryptocurrency OTC trading desk Cumberland, a subsidiary of DRW, explained that on June 13, the firm saw 30% more volume than the previous year-to-date high on May 13.

Over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks allow high-net-worth crypto traders to trade coins without affecting spot markets as much as they would trading on a traditional exchange. OTC trading desks also provide liquidity for big buyers that smaller exchanges cannot provide. A number of companies offer OTC services to crypto traders like Kraken OTC, Falconx, Cumberland, Athena Investment Services, Crypto Desk, B2C2, Bankhaus Scheich, Bitpanda Plus, and Coin Cola.

Amid the recent crypto market carnage, the DRW company Cumberland tweeted about the firms OTC flow during the past week and let people in on some of the moves that were made. The most frequent question were asked on weeks like this is what does the flow look like? Cumberland tweeted on June 14. OTC flow gives some insights into how the market is handling these major moves, the OTC trading desk added. Cumberland was founded in 2014, and over the last few years, it has become one of the top OTC desks worldwide.

When Cumberland first started, news reports noted that the company was able to acquire massive amounts of bitcoin (BTC) via a few U.S. Marshalls operated auctions. Cumberland offers more than 30 different digital assets against 500 pairs, and the company claims to be one of the largest liquidity providers in the cryptocurrency space. Speaking about the recent crypto market rout, Cumberland disclosed that lots of crypto volume came directly to OTC desks.

Cumberland said:

On big swings, more volume tends to come to OTC desks, and yesterday was no exception; it was the most volume weve seen so far this year. In fact, it was 30% more volume than the previous YTD high, May 13th. Traders tend to use OTC during fast markets because its much easier to move size. Volumes were very BTC-centric, with about 75% of the total flow in bitcoin. ETH was the majority of the remainder. When looking to exit risk, traders tend to trade the most liquid products.

The crypto market bloodbath had shown a significant amount of leverage was wiped out during the last two weeks. Cumberland suggested that quite a bit of the flow on June 13 was liquidations. A number of crypto lending firms have been accused of being liquidated on very large positions in recent times such as Celsius. Large crypto hedge funds like Three Arrows Capital (3AC) are also being accused of having financial hardships and dealing with liquidations from over-leveraged positions.

The flow ratio suggests a lot of the flow was liquidations, with a 2:1 ratio of sellers to buyers, Cumberlands Twitter thread concluded. As always, Cumberland is proud to act as the backstop of liquidity during the most severe market moves.

What do you think about Cumberlands summary of OTC flow from the recent crypto market bloodbath? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Excerpt from:
Cumberland Sees Massive OTC Moves During Crypto Market Rout 'Most Volume We've Seen This Year' Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Arman Shirinyan

Cardano shows better performance compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum while market enters limbo

While the majority of the top-tier assets on the cryptocurrency market are struggling under unseen selling pressure, projects like Cardano are feeling reliefas they avoid a massive plunge down and even show significant growth in assets like Ethereum andBitcoin.

Unexpectedly, Cardano easily beattop-tier digital assets like XRP, ETH and BTC, thanks to the lack of leveraged positions openon the market and lower institutional exposure, as they appeared to be two main reasons behind the strong plunge of the market.

Both neutral performance on the ADA/USD pair and a plunge below $900 forEthereum is fuelingthe 75% gain. The strongest plunge on Ethereum since 2020 helps with ADA's short-term rally against major players on the market.

While Ethereum's massive sell-off is the biggest support for ADA, Bitcoin's 32% drop in value caused only a 25% return for Cardano, which does not make it the best hedge against the cryptocurrency market but still a better option than holding large caps like BTC or ETH.

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While ADA's growth is mostly tied to the lack of exposure to institutional funds that are being liquidated, industry experts are also highlighting the fundamental wellness of the network, which is receiving a massive amount of updates and releases thissummer, including Djed stablecoin, Vasil hard fork and others.

Withthe constant updates and relatively low pressure from investors because of the low-leveraged nature of the asset, Cardano has all the chances of being among the leaders when the cryptocurrency market sees new funds inflows. This may takeanother couple of years, especially with the hawkishness of the Fed.

Originally posted here:
Cardano Massively Outperforms Bitcoin and Ethereum as It Avoids Market Sell-Off - U.Today

Billionaire Bond King Jeffrey Gundlach believes Bitcoin (BTC) will plummet further despite having already fallen by about 70% from its all-time high.

In a new CNBC interview, the CEO of asset management firm DoubleLine Capital sayshe wouldnt be surprised at all if the flagship crypto asset fell by more than 50% from the current levels to around $10,000.

The trend in crypto is clearly not positive. I mean it topped out a long time ago. Remember, I was with you in July of last year, and Bitcoin was up at like $60,000 or something. And then it dropped down to $30,000

It managed to rally back but it looks like it is being liquidated. So Im not bullish at $20,000 or $21,000 on Bitcoin. I wouldnt be surprised at all if it went to $10,000.

At time of writing, Bitcoin is trading for $21,062, an increase of about 5% from the 2022 low of $20,111 reached earlier this week.

Gundlanch also warns the recent collapse of some cryptocurrencies could be a sign of a looming crisis in the digital asset space.

Weve had such a huge decline in parts of the stock market. Emerging market equity year-to-date is down 15%. Most equities are down. Nasdaqs down 28%, Bitcoin is down 53% year-to-date and 45% just since the last Federal Reserve meeting.

Weve already seen around the edges some blow-ups in parts of the crypto world and that could be foreshadowing some problem.

DoubleLine Capital, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, had more than $122 billion of assets under management at the close of this years first quarter.

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Billionaire CEO of $122,000,000,000 Asset Manager Predicts Bitcoin (BTC) Could Crash by Another 50% - The Daily Hodl

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company has forecasted that the metaverse may generate up to $5 trillion by 2030. In addition, more than 80% of commerce could be impacted by activities in the metaverse.

Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company published a report last week titled Value creation in the metaverse.

The report details: Our work began by surveying more than 3,400 consumers and executives on metaverse adoption, its potential, and how it may shift behaviors. We also interviewed 13 senior leaders and metaverse experts.

According to McKinsey:

By 2030, it is entirely plausible that more than 50 percent of live events could be held in the metaverse.

In addition, more than 80% of commerce could be impacted by activities in the metaverse, the firm described, adding that most learning, development, and collaboration could happen in the metaverse. Furthermore, McKinsey said, We expect the average internet user to spend up to six hours a day in metaverse experiences by 2030.

More than $120 billion has already flowed into the metaverse space in 2022 more than double the $57 million in 2021, the report notes.

While estimates vary widely, we forecast it [the metaverse] may generate up to $5 trillion by 2030, the firm described. Our estimate of the metaverses potential impact by 2030 is based on a bottom-up view of consumer and enterprise use cases, derived from discussions with around 20 internal and external experts In short, our forecast is our best estimate given the very high levels of technical, regulatory, and societal uncertainty.

Noting that the metaverse will have a major impact on peoples commercial and personal lives, the report concludes:

With its potential to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, the metaverse is simply too big to be ignored.

Several major banks and investment houses now have a presence in the metaverse, including JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Fidelity Investments.

In addition, a survey conducted in April showed that the metaverse will be the most popular place for crypto, with 70% of respondents agreeing that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology advancements will be critical to shaping the future of the metaverse.

Besides McKinsey, there are other estimates of the size of the metaverse. Citigroup predicted that the metaverse could be a $13 trillion opportunity with 5 billion users by 2030. Goldman Sachs sees the metaverse as an $8 trillion opportunity.

What do you think about the metaverse? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Excerpt from:
McKinsey: The Metaverse Could Generate $5 Trillion by 2030 'Simply Too Big to Be Ignored' Metaverse Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News